Saccharin is commonly employed as a sugar substitute but suffers the drawback of having an objectionable bitter, metallic aftertaste. It has been reported that from one-quarter to one-third of the population are "saccharin sensitive" and perceive an off-taste regardless of the saccharin concentration. It has also been reported that the incidence of off-taste due to saccharin is a function of the concentration of the compound and that everyone can be expected to obtain an off-taste from saccharin at some concentration. It has been suggested to eliminate the aftertaste by combining saccharin with such ingredients as pectin or sorbitol, dextrose, maltose, etc., but such a combination has not overcome the problem. Combinations containing saccharin and salts of cyclamates in certain proportions, while widely used, have also failed to overcome the problem of objectionable aftertaste.
On a weight for weight basis saccharin at its threshold level of sweetness is about 700 times as sweet as sucrose. This greatly enhanced sweetness of saccharin relative to sucrose decreases as the concentration of saccharin increases. At normal use levels saccharin is only 150-200 times as sweet as sucrose. Consequently, to obtain a given increase in sweetness level with saccharin it is necessary to employ a proportionately greater concentration of saccharin. This increased level of saccharin causes a larger segment of the population to perceive an objectionable aftertaste. While individuals vary in the degree to which they find the aftertaste of saccharin objectionable, the occurrence of the objection is so widespread that considerable effort has been expended in devising formulations to overcome this problem. The problems caused by the aftertaste of saccharin are compounded in products such as preserves, jams and jellies which normally have sugar concentrations of up to 60 to 75%. Substituting a quantity of saccharin which gives a sweetness equivalent to this quantity of sugar results in a noticeably undesirable aftertaste.